Beautiful Barbados

It's our favourite Caribbean destination for good reason – there's more to this island than sun, sea and sand. Kate Simon offers a guide.

The accommodation

The hot news from the east coast is the reopening of the Atlantis Hotel (atlantishotelbarbados.com). The venerable seaside lodgings have been turned into a stylish 10-room property by the team behind Little Good Harbour.

Further south on this coast, The Crane (thecrane.com) has expanded from the original 18-room hotel into a veritable village of 180 luxury suites. On the south coast at St Lawrence Gap, the all-inclusive Almond Casuarina Beach Resort (almondresorts.com) has had a revamp, adding 95 sea-facing rooms and a shorefront pool.

The activities

Any self-respecting surfer should try their luck in the Soup Bowl off the east coast at Bathsheba. This world-class break, which hosts international championships, can be surfed year round. But Barbados isn't all about the beach or the sea. Go inland to find more thrills at the Barbados Aerial Trek Zipline Adventures (00 246 433 8966) at Walkes Spring Plantation, which whizzes across 100ft-deep Jack-in-the-Box Gully. And, of course, Barbados is well supplied with polo fields, a sport first played here by British cavalry officers. The most famous ground is Holders, but others under construction include a new one at Apes Hill Club (apeshillclub.com), the latest addition to the island's portfolio of private estates.

The urban scene

The lively capital, Bridgetown, with its busy shops and harbour full of leisure craft, reveals the well-heeled nature of this island. This is also home to the third oldest parliament in the world and National Heroes Square, with its statue of Nelson that predates the one in London's Trafalgar Square. Also call by Holetown, where the British first settled, and see the once neglected Speightstown, the first major port, which is now being given a makeover.

The beaches

This island's exclusive image is largely down to its "Platinum Coast" on the Caribbean side of the island. Here, you'll find the rich and famous enjoying barefoot luxury on white sands lined with sunloungers set out by the five-star hotels that sit cheek by jowl along this coast. Further south, on the more blustery seafront of St Lawrence Gap, the resort hotels spill out on to golden beaches. This is charter-holiday territory, where families mingle on the sands with a procession of brides and grooms searching for that ultimate Caribbean wedding photo. Over on the east coast, the Atlantic waves keep the atmosphere bracing. It's a joy for surfers, but dangerous for swimmers who should ask a local to show them the safe spots for bathing.

The restaurants

Still the island's top spot for a special meal, The Cliff (thecliffbarbados.com) serves a starry clientele exquisite food in a sublime clifftop setting. At the new Marketfive by John Hazzard (00 246 436 1485), the eponymous chef is creating exciting, contemporary Caribbean dishes in a stylish dining room in the unlikely location of the new Sanjay Bridgetown Centre in the capital. Meanwhile, the Fish Pot (littlegoodharbour barbados.com) at the northern reach of the west coast and Cafe Luna (littlearches.com) at the southern end, both continue to delight with fine food and romantic settings. But for dinner with a touch of fun, join the locals and tourists at Fish Friday in Oistins.

The sights

Don't miss St Nicholas Abbey (stnicholasabbey.com) in St Peter, one of just three Jacobean houses remaining in the Americas. Take a tour of Harrison's Cave (harrisonscave.com) and the extraordinary limestone caverns at Allen View. Look out for the Emancipation Statue – aka Bussa, after the slave leader – which shows a black man breaking his chains. It sits on a roundabout east of Bridgetown.

Compact Facts

How to get there

Kate Simon travelled to Barbados with the Barbados Tourism Authority (visitbarbados.org). Thomas Cook Signature (0844 879 8015; tcsignature.com) offers seven nights' at Tamarind Cove from £1,299 per person, based on two sharing, including return flights with Virgin Atlantic, resort transfers, and B&B.

 

From http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/winter-on-the-beach-barbados-1845578.html

The Caribbean holds many great treasures when it comes to island destinations. Barbados is just one of these great places. This single island is its own independent country and is located close to South America, a bit over 250 miles from the coast of Venezuela. It is east of Saint Lucia and north of Trinidad and Tobago. The island itself is only about 165 square miles of low-lying land, but the tropical trade winds, beautiful rainforests, and, of course, lovely sandy beaches make it popular for tourist travel. You too can enjoy a vacation in Barbados.

According to the United Nations, Barbados is the fourth most developed of all the developing countries in the entire world. It may be small, but almost every resident of this island nation enjoys a very high standard of living, and this extends to the tourists who visit the country every year, so you can expect your travel in Barbados to be nothing short of fantastic.

If you plan to travel to the sunny beaches of Barbados, you will probably fly into the single major airport on the island, Sir Grantley Adams International Airport. Many major airlines fly into this airport from almost everywhere in the world, and it is actually a major hub for the Caribbean, so no matter where you are traveling in this region of the world, you may fly into Barbados to catch a flight or cruise to another island.

Some of the best things to do while you are in Barbados are centered on the beach. Surfing is very popular because the waters here are perfect for it, with the Soup Bowl, located near the town of Bathsheba, being a popular surfing destination. The western and southern coasts are most popular, and you’re sure to be able to enjoy a number of sunny days lying on the pink sand if you like to sunbathe.

However, if the beach isn’t your thing, you can also enjoy the shopping in the duty-free tourist centers. You can also check out the fun and exciting night life, the wildlife reserves, and the festivals that take part all over the island in July and August. Popular tourist destinations include Farley Hill National Park, Animal Flower Cave, Hackleton’s Cliff, Sharon Moravian Church, Orchid World, Gun Hill Signal Station, Garrison Savannah, and Barbados Historical Museum. Large towns that in Barbados in which you can stay include Bridgetown, Speightstown, Holetown, and Oistins. You can also stay in any one of the small local towns dotting the island while visiting this beautiful country.

 

From http://softwareagent007.blogspot.com/2009/09/island-destinations.html